Pineapples from the Indian state of Assam might be coming to a supermarket near you, thanks largelyin part to new President-elect Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
During the run up to the Presidential Election 2023, he picked the image of a pineapple as his campaign logosymbol. He said the fruit is a “propitious and welcome” symbol for many people here.
Then, in an interview with Kiss 92, Mr Tharman revealed that when he was campaigning at Lau Pa Sat hawker centre at Raffles Quay, some government officers shared with him a pineapple from Assam. They had brought a few back to interest importers here.
Mr Tharman said the Assam pineapple looked and tasted different – it had soft, luscious leaves on top and the fruit was much sweeter than other varieties of pineapple.
Mr Tharman had also considered the durian – regarded as the “king of fruits” – as his campaign logo, with his team comprising “quite a large group of people of different age groups”.
“What was interesting is that we agreed on the pineapple in less than 10 seconds... It was something we liked. It was something we felt was easy to understand.”
From the loud cheers of “ong lai” (Hokkien for pineapple and sounds similar to the phrase “good fortune comes”) from supporters and his resounding 70.4 per cent victory, Mr Tharman undoubtedly made the right choice.
There were complications. For example, a woman had to go home and change when she arrived at a polling station in a pineapple-print top.
Also, in a dialogue posted on social media, Mr Tharman sharedspoke of how he and his wife Jane Ittogi “whacked” copious amounts of orh nee – a Teochew dessert of sweetened yam paste – when they decided to start a family.
They had learnt of the Yoruba tribe in Africa, which ate loads of yam and had a high number of twins.
“So Jane being Teochew, we decided to really whack on orh nee,” said Mr Tharman.
Something must have worked as the couple have a daughter and three sons, although Mr Tharman did state that he can’t claim if there was any scientific basis behindto it.
When asked by the Kiss 92 hosts if he had something to share with the listeners, Mr Tharman quoted the Indian poet, writer, artist and social reformer Rabindranath Tagore, whom he described as “one of the great people who lived in the last century”.
Tagore had said: “I slept and dreamt that life was a joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
Mr Tharman added that this saying stuck with him because it rang true.
